Suspect in bomb scheme fails to enter plea in Ky.

Complaint details extensive Australian efforts to find man

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A complaint unsealed in federal court Tuesday shows that Australian police identified and tracked down bomb-ploy suspect Paul Douglas Peters in Kentucky through extensive sleuthing that included computer forensics and closed-circuit TV footage at several locations in Australia.

Peters, 50, appeared Tuesday at a hearing in U.S. District Court but did not enter a plea. He was ordered detained pending an extradition hearing set for Oct. 14.

Peters was educated at boarding schools in Hong Kong and Australia and is the holder of degrees in law and economics.

He did complex transactions worth billions of dollars in Australia, Asia and North America, according to his resume and news accounts.

Peters did not speak during the hearing Tuesday.

His ex-wife, Debra Peters, who owns the five-bedroom brick home in Buckner, Ky., where he was arrested, sat in the front row of the courtroom weeping.

The complaint, which seeks the extradition of Peters to Australia on kidnapping and other charges, describes a terrifying scene: 18-year-old Madeleine Pulvey, the daughter of an affluent technology-company chief executive, was studying for exams Aug. 3 in the New South Wales city of Mosman near Sydney when a masked man broke into her house and attached what was thought to be a bomb around her neck.

Along with it was a note that said, "Powerful new technology plastic explosives are located inside the small black combination case delivered to you. The case is booby trapped. It can ONLY be opened safely if you follow the instructions and comply with the terms and solutions."

The note said a demand for money would be made later after the family confirmed receiving the instructions by contacting the e-mail address dirkstraun1840@gmail.com.

Dirk Struan is the main character in James Clavell's 1966 novel "Tai-Pan," about a bitter rivalry between powerful traders in Hong Kong after the end of the First Opium War.

The man fled and police, after 10 hours of X-rays and other tests, determined the bomb was a hoax and removed it from Pulvey.

Peters' lawyer, Scott C. Cox, said his client will contest the charges but could waive extradition.

Pulvey was only able to describe the suspect as in his mid-60s with a slightly protruding stomach, gray chest hairs and about 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 7 inches tall.

But Australian police found that the Gmail account had been established on May 30 at a Chicago airport and used only three times, all on the day of Pulvey's ordeal.

The first time was at a public library near her home in Kincumber, Australia. Closed-circuit TV showed a man who matched the description given by the victim entering the library.

It also showed the man had driven up in a Range Rover manufactured between 1996 and 2001.

The e-mail account was used later that day at a video store in another town nearby, where video footage from the store and an adjacent liquor shop showed the same man driving the same vehicle.

Eventually, by cross-checking a list of all Range Rover owners in Australia against evidence gleaned from computer files used to type the demand note and credit-card information for the purchase of office supplies and a baseball bat used by the suspect, Australian authorities said they identified him as Peters and learned he lived in nearby Copacabana, Australia.

After they found he had left Australia on an Aug. 8 flight to Chicago with a connecting flight here, they contacted authorities in the United States.

The FBI found that "Doug" and Debra Peters received mail at an address in Buckner, an unincorporated area of about 4,000 in Oldham County north of Louisville, and after FBI Special Agent Frank Charles confirmed that Doug Peters matched the description of the suspect, an FBI SWAT team arrested him there without incident Monday.

According to the complaint, which was filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Bennett and signed by Magistrate Judge Dave Whalin, Peters formerly worked for a company "with which the victim's family has links."